US Defence Secretary Requests Additional Funding for Iran War

Washington - US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has requested more funding for the American war against Iran during a Senate hearing, at a time when a recent opinion poll shows a majority of Americans believe the war is not worth fighting. Additional funding for the war with Iran is “urgent and necessary,” Hegseth stated in his address to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. “Without these funds, we face a critical shortfall,” Hegseth said, with his opening statement interrupted several times by protesters, some of whom held signs reading “No War on Iran.” During the hearing, Hegseth said the US war against Iran has cost 37.5 billion US dollars so far, up from an estimated 29 billion US dollars in May. Hegseth’s remarks came as Republican lawmakers seek congressional approval for President Donald Trump’s proposed 1.5 trillion US dollar defence budget, even as a growing number of polls show increasing public opposition to the war against Iran. A recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll showed that 68 per cent of Americans believe the war is “not worth fighting.” The Washington Post reported that the assessment of the Iran war is worse than any Post-ABC News poll during the long Iraq War and is on par with the rating for the Afghanistan war in a July 2013 poll, when 67 per cent of respondents said that conflict was not worth fighting. A Quinnipiac University poll released in June showed that 45 per cent of voters believe the US is in a weaker position in the world as a result of the American war against Iran.